SwingingTheLamp

@SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨"he" stands for "high efficiency" for detergent and washers, and in the future there could be "she" for "super high efficiency"⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  In case anybody was actually wondering, the difference is sudsing agent. The manufacturers originally put a chemical in laundry detergent to make more suds. That doesn’t make them clean clothes any better, it’s just for psychological effect. Customers feel like it’s working better when they can see suds.

  But too much sudsing in front-loading machines can cause leaking from around the door seals. (Same as putting dish detergent in the dishwasher.) So the HE detergents are the same thing, but without the sudsing agent. They work just fine in top-loading machines, too.

  But does anybody remember those TV ads for Biz detergent which pitted a woman using it against man using “Hiz” detergent? Hooray for casual sexism!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Angry, disappointed users react to Bluesky's upcoming blue check mark verification system⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Reminds me of a meeting my co-worker and I had with the IT staff of a company that is a customer using research instruments in our facility. The meeting was to ask us to enable data synchronization through SharePoint. (We’re a Linux shop.) We asked what the issue was with getting their data files with SFTP. They said, “It’s open source.”

  Then, a few beats of silence as it sinks in for us that there is no next step in the chain of logic. That is the totality of their objection.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What programs do you wish a good FOSS alternative existed, but doesn't or most of the FOSS alternatives simply aren't good?⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s amusing to me. Back around 2010, I used a lot of state legal forms that they only released as PDF files, but not fillable. It was annoying to print them and fill them by hand, and terribly fiddly to use the PDF annotation tool on the computer.

  So I just used OpenOffice.org to create almost-pixel-perfect versions of the forms, with fillable text boxes, then exported them as PDF. Word couldn’t do it at the time.

  Now, at work, I use Microsoft365 because that’s what everyone uses because of the site license. I wish we’d switch to something else, because Outlook fails so hard at basic email stuff.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨A bit of salt makes it taste more savory⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  The first time I had ever heard of the word “tankie” was on Lemmy. It’s just not a thing that about anybody I know offline is, or has heard of. So I don’t understand the obsession with them. Even if they’re doing every evil thing claimed, it’s a) the metaphorical tempest in a teapot, and b) not even working, based on the number of people here who seem to make hating on tankies part of their identity.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Are there any Lemmy/Mbin instances by women for women?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The court thing is not universally true. I worked in a family law firm for several years, and the practice in the courts here is to start from a baseline of equal custody and placement, and I’ve heard the same about other states. The men who lost out were the ones who wouldn’t fight, because they were convinced that the courts were biased. But hell, in one case, we got full custody and placement for a guy whose son wasn’t even biologically his! (His wife cheated, and he didn’t find out until well after they’d emotionally bonded.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Microsoft fires employee protestor who called AI boss a ‘war profiteer’⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Willfully blind. Eastman Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975, but decided to focus on their existing, profitable product lines. Clayton Christensen describes the process in The Innovator’s Dilemma.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨From a purely political perspective, if you oppose the US tariffs as a US resident, should you buy or avoid buying products subject to tariffs?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  You get thrown out of a farmer’s market if you show up naked, though. Probably thrift stores, too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What efforts would it take to strip the name Americans from the folks inhabiting the US?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Does that make the rest of the world Themians?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What efforts would it take to strip the name Americans from the folks inhabiting the US?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Each of the 50 states has a somewhat unique name, and residents of the state therefore have a unique demonym. Use those instead?

  If that’s too many names, Colin Woodward has identified 11 culturally-distinct nations in the US. That would actually promote a lot better understanding of why the country is the way it is. I’d be a Yankee.

  Changing the collective name demonym Americans would be confusing during the transition, and for what benefit? Is this really a concern for residents of other countries in the Americas? Are Colombianos really scrambling to be called Americans?

  Instead, I suggest taking Pres. Sheinbaum’s suggestion, if you want to do something: Call the continent Mexican America. Everybody would know what you mean from context right away. No confusion, no need to get anybody else to play along.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The best thing *you* can do for the fediverse is *just be kind*⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I have a couple of suggestions to add:

  I was considering leaving the other site before the API fiasco because it felt like so many users approach engagement as rhetorical combat, that is, one commenter will win and one will lose. Instead, think one of Covey’s habits of highly-effective people: “Win-win, or no deal.” Approach discussion on the Fediverse as a collaborative act, in which you’re exchanging ideas with another person. Even if you disagree, you can both win by respectfully hearing it out the other person. And if the other person won’t collaborate? No deal! Just disengage.

  Just like in intimate relationship, use “I” statements instead of “you” statements. Telling people who they are and what they believe is not only disrespectful, but probably wrong, often exaggerated or distorted for rhetorical combat purposes. People get angry when their identity gets poked at. One exception, of course, is when giving advice, like, stick to what you know, and share your thoughts and your reactions to a topic.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FCC chair says we’re too dependent on GPS and wants to explore ‘alternatives’.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s a joke, since GLONASS is the Russian system. E-LORAN would be ironic, considering that the U.S. demolished its LORAN infrastructure around 2009. What are the odds that the best backup just happens to be Starlink?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨FCC chair says we’re too dependent on GPS and wants to explore ‘alternatives’.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  GLONASS?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Facebook Cybertruck Owners Group Copes With Relentless Mockery⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s a joke/urban myth that it’s the law in Wisconsin that restaurants have to serve a slice of cheese with apple pie.

  We did used to have a law that oleo (margarine) had to be sold undyed, which made it a sickly-looking blue-ish white. This was to protect the state’s dairy industry. Only butter could be yellow. People near the borders used to bootleg yellow margarine back across the border from other states. The law was dealt a mortal blow when one of our state representatives publicly took a blind taste test in order to prove that butter was better…

  …and failed. His family had been worried about his health, and was surreptitiously substituting yellow margarine for butter in their meals. (In an amusing historical twist, now that we know about the danger of transfats, we know that butter is indeed better.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨That would be cool if movie theatres had VR headsets that I could wear and it would provide closed caption subtitles.⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  My boss has AR glasses that transcribe conversations in real-time (more or less).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨So, is the USA screwed?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Enough farmland? I suggest reading up on the Ogallala Aquifer. Also, where the best climate zones for agriculture will be 50 years from now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Over 20M 'people' listed as 100+ years old in the SS database?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I feel like Betteridge’s Law of Headlines applies here, too. If Leon had found fire (fraudulent benefits), he would have posted fire instead of smoke.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Good morning.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Borrowing is not an option?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In light of recent events, here's OpenStreetMap editors discussing naming of the Gulf of Mexico⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Honestly, I think that we the people need to assert our own right to name things more often. I don’t recall the latest name of the Brewers stadium in Milwaukee, for example. Whatever company that paid to have them put its name on the front didn’t pay me. It’s “the new County Stadium” as far as I’m concerned.

  (I have no philosophical objection to the name, by the way. Reps of the new company can DM me, we can work out a deal.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: There's a protest today at noon at your state capitol.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s going to take sustained effort over time, so… don’t start? I’m struggling to find the logic here.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨YSK: There's a protest today at noon at your state capitol.⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Haha, that happened in 2011 with the Wisconsin Act 10 protests. It was literally the most peaceful thing you ever saw in your life: singing, chanting, mutual aid stations, pizza, people on their goddamn hands and knees cleaning salt and sand off of the floor of the Capitol in the evenings.

  And the Republicans were cowering in pants-shitting terror! (I mean, more than their usual.) The governor would enter the Capitol through the utility tunnel from a nearby state building. One legislator was terrorized by scratches on their car, and got the State Patrol to investigate the attack. (The SP concluded that the perpetrator was a stone kicked up by the wheels.) I know people who got arrested for having cameras in the Assembly chamber.

  Bunch of craven idiots, the lot.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Compare the situation to all the noise and outrage, but nobody shows up.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[deleted]⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And what will not doing it accomplish?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Equal under the law or something⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Does it need another purpose?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Tulsi Gabbard Smears Are Unfounded, Unfair, and Unhelpful⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Seems like the author could’ve cited plenty of examples, then, but just didn’t?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Tulsi Gabbard Smears Are Unfounded, Unfair, and Unhelpful⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  With that title, I was expecting that the author could name more than 3 alleged smears from long ago.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Coming on Lemmy and complaining because there are too many Linux users is like going in to a brothel and complaining that there are too many hookers⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  That really hurt the elephant’s feelings to be always singled out, so no wonder.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Trying to reverse climate change won’t save us, scientists warn⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  And, eliminate Euclidean zoning in the U.S., so that people can live near where they work, or work near where they live. (Not all of us can do it, or like working from home.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Honey⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Kinda tongue-in-cheek questions, but: Honey isn’t an animal body part, it isn’t produced by animal bodies, so if it is an animal product because bees process it, is wheat flour (for example) an animal product because humans process it? How about hand-kneaded bread? Does that make fruit an animal product because the bees pollinated the flowers while collecting the nectar?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Pesto!!!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  But have we tried feeding a human infant 24kg of fish per week? Y’know, for science.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US ports strike causes first shutdown in 50 years⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Glad to see that Pres. Biden isn’t (yet) forcing the workers back on the job this time. Perhaps he should mitigate the effects on the economy by temporarily nationalizing the ports for the 80-day negotiation period, and hiring the longshoremen to work them?